Selectively providing system information in a heterogeneous network environment

ABSTRACT

Described embodiments provide an apparatus and method for selectively providing system information in a heterogeneous network environment including a first network overlaid on a second network. The apparatus may include a location determination unit, a mapping table, and a signal processor. The location determination unit may be configured to determine a first network base station in the first network. The mapping table may be configured to store information on at least one second network cell in a second network, which is spatially in a comparatively close distance to each first network base station in the first network. The signal processor may be configured to determine at least one second network cell spatially close to the determined first network base station based on the mapping table and to transmit system information of the at least one second network cell to the user equipment.

CROSS REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to KoreanPatent Application No. 10-2011-0127193 (filed on Nov. 30, 2011), whichis hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

The subject meter of this application is related to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/326,734 filed Dec. 15, 2011, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/661,004 filed Oct. 25, 2012, U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/660,988 filed Oct. 25, 2012, and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 13/587,742 filed Aug. 16, 2012, the teachings ofwhich are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to communications and, in particular, toselectively providing system information in heterogeneous networkenvironment for reducing delay in signal processing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Long term evolution (LTE) may be a standard for wireless datacommunication technology that delivers a high data rate, low latency andpacket optimized radio access technology. LTE, however, supports only apacket switched (PS) service while a universal mobile telecommunicationssystem radio access network (UTRAN) supports both of a circuit switched(CS) service and a packet switched (PS) service. In order to provide aCS service in a LTE network, circuit switched (CS) fallback may beemployed in the LTE network.

The CS fallback may enable the provisioning of voice and other CSservices by reuse of a GSM/EDGE radio access network (GERAN) or a UTRANCS infrastructure when user equipment is served by a LTE network. GSMmay by an abbreviation of a global system for mobile communications andEDGE may be abbreviation of enhanced data rates for GSM evolution. TheCS fallback is generally only available if LTE service coverage isoverlapped with service coverage of a GERAN or a UTRAN CS network. Forexample, in the LTE network, a CS fallback procedure may hand over userequipment from a serving LTE cell to an associated non-LTE cell in orderto process a mobile originated (MO) call or a mobile terminated (MT)call while the user equipment is camping on the serving LTE cell. Thenon-LTE cell may be a GERAN cell or a UTRAN cell. The LTE cell may bemapped to a corresponding non-LTE cell with a one to one relationship. ACS fallback call may be transferred from the serving LTE cell to thecorresponding non-LTE cell in the CS fallback procedure.

Typically, a cell size of a LTE cell is much greater than that of aUTRAN cell. Accordingly, one LTE cell may be overlaid on multiple UTRANcells. In such a heterogeneous network environment, user equipment maybe redirected from such a LTE cell to a UTRAN cell when the userequipment continuously has a poor reception signal quality for apredetermined duration or when the user equipment needs to perform a CSfallback procedure. In this case, it may be required to provide systeminformation of UTRAN cells that are spatially associated with theserving LTE cell or that are adjacent to a location of user equipment.Typically, a serving LTE cell provides system information of UTRAN cellswithout consideration of the location of the serving LTE cell or thelocation of the user equipment. Accordingly, radio resources may bewasted for providing unnecessary system information and related signalprocesses may be delayed for processing unnecessary system information.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Embodiments of the present invention overcome the above disadvantagesand other disadvantages not described above. Also, the present inventionis not required to overcome the disadvantages described above, and anembodiment of the present invention may not overcome any of the problemsdescribed above.

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, systeminformation may be selectively provided in a heterogeneous networkenvironment.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a locationof user equipment may be considered to selectively provide systeminformation of UTRAN cells.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, userequipment may be provided with system information of UTRAN cells onlyadjacent to a LTE base station where the user equipment is located.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention, anapparatus may be provided for selectively providing system informationin a heterogeneous network environment including a first networkoverlaid on a second network. The apparatus may include a locationdetermination unit, a mapping table, and a signal processor. Thelocation determination unit may be configured to receive an uplinksignal transmitted from user equipment and to determine a first networkbase station in the first network, which is located in a comparativelyclose distance to the user equipment. The mapping table may beconfigured to store information on at least one second network cell in asecond network, which is spatially in a comparatively close distance toeach first network base station in the first network. The signalprocessor may be configured to determine at least one second networkcell spatially close to the determined first network base station basedon the mapping table, to obtain system information of the determined atleast one second network cell, and to transmit the obtained systeminformation to the user equipment.

A first network cell of the first network may be overlaid on multiplesecond network cells of the second network in the heterogeneous networkenvironment. One first network cell may include multiple first networkradio units and one second network cell includes one second networkradio unit.

The radio unit may be a remote radio head.

The first network may be a long term evolution (LTE) network and thesecond network may be a universal mobile telecommunications system radioaccess network (UTRAN).

The apparatus may further include an input unit configured to receivethe uplink signals transmitted from the user equipment and to providethe received uplink signals to the location determination unit.

The location determination unit may be configured to extract one or moresounding reference signals from the received uplink signals and todetermine the first network base station located near to the userequipment based on each extracted sounding reference signal.

The mapping table may be configured to store identifications of secondnetwork cells spatially close to each first network base station. Theidentifications of second network cells may be mapped to a correspondingfirst network base station spatially closed to the second network cells.

The signal processor may be configured to transmit the obtained systeminformation through a radio resource control (RRC) connection releasemessage.

The apparatus may be included in a digital unit in the first network.

The location determination unit may be configured to determine the firstnetwork base station spatially close to the user equipment when the userequipment is redirected from the first network to the second network.

In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a methodmay be provided for selectively providing system information in aheterogeneous network environment including a first network overlaid ona second network. The method may include receiving an uplink signaltransmitted from user equipment, determining a first network basestation in the first network located in a comparatively close distanceto the user equipment, determining at least one second network cellspatially close to the determined first network base station based on amapping table, obtaining system information of the determined at leastone second network cell, and providing the obtained system informationto the user equipment.

The method may include storing, by the mapping table, information on atleast one second network cell in a second network spatially in acomparatively close distance to each first network base station in thefirst network.

The method may include overlaying a first network cell of the firstnetwork on multiple second network cells of the second network in theheterogeneous network environment. One first network cell may includemultiple first network radio units and one second network cell includesone second network radio unit.

The first network may be a long term evolution (LTE) network and thesecond network is a universal mobile telecommunications system radioaccess network (UTRAN).

The determining a first network base station may include extracting oneor more sounding reference signals from the received uplink signals anddetermining the first network base station located near to the userequipment based on each extracted sounding reference signal.

The providing the obtained system information may include including theobtained system information in a radio resource control (RRC) connectionrelease message and transmitting the RRC connection release message tothe user equipment.

Prior to the determining a first network base station, the method mayfurther include initiating a network redirection procedure thatredirects the user equipment from the first network to the secondnetwork.

The network redirection procedure may be initiated for at least one ofwhen the user equipment continuously has a comparatively low signalquality for a predetermined duration and when the user equipmentperforms a circuit switched (CS) fallback procedure.

In accordance with still another embodiment of the present invention, anapparatus may be provided for selectively providing system informationof cells in a universal mobile telecommunication system radio accessnetwork (UTRAN) in a heterogeneous network environment including a longterm evolution (LTE) network overlaid on the UTRAN. The apparatus mayinclude a location determination unit, a mapping table, and a signalprocessor. The location determination unit may be configured to receivean uplink signal transmitted from user equipment and to determine a LTEbase station located in a comparatively close distance to the userequipment. The mapping table may be configured to store information onat least one UTRAN cell spatially in a comparatively close distance toeach LTE base station overlaid on UTRAN cells. The signal processor maybe configured to determine at least one UTRAN cell spatially close tothe determined LTE base station based on the mapping table, to obtainsystem information of the determined at least one UTRAN cell, and totransmit the obtained system information to the user equipment.

The location determination unit may be configured to extract soundingreference signal from the received uplink signals and to determine theLTE base station located near to the user equipment based on theextracted sounding reference signals. The signal processor may beconfigured to transmit the obtained system information through a radioresource control (RRC) connection release message.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and/or other aspects of the present invention will becomeapparent and more readily appreciated from the following description ofembodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, ofwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a LTE network in accordance with at least one embodiment ofthe present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a cell structure in accordance with at least one embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a heterogeneous network environment including a LTE networkand a UTRAN in accordance with at least one embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 shows a LTE cell overlaid on multiple UTRAN cells in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows an apparatus for selectively providing system informationin heterogeneous network environment in accordance with at least oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 shows such mapping table 630 in accordance with at least oneembodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 shows selectively providing system information in a heterogeneousnetwork environment in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the presentinvention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like elementsthroughout. The embodiments are described below, in order to explain thepresent invention by referring to the figures.

The term “user equipment” as used herein may refer to any of a terminal,a mobile station (MS), a mobile terminal (MT), a subscriber station(SS), a portable subscriber station (PSS), and an access terminal (AT),and may include some or all of the functions thereof.

The term “base station (BS)” as used herein may refer to any of anaccess point (AP), a radio access station (RAS), a node B, an evolvednode B (eNodeB), a base transceiver station (BTS), and a mobile multihoprelay (MMR)-BS, and may include some or all of the functions thereof.

For convenience and ease of understanding, a heterogeneous networkenvironment will be described as a long term evolution (LTE) networkoverlaid on a UMTS radio access network (UTRAN), but the presentinvention is not limited thereto. Hereinafter, such heterogeneousnetwork environment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 to FIG.3.

FIG. 1 shows a LTE network in accordance with at least one embodiment ofthe present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, LTE network 10 may include may include digital unit20, plurality of radio units 30, 31, and 32, and core system 40 inaccordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.Digital unit 20 may be spatially separated from plurality of radio units30, 31, and 32 and installed at different locations in accordance withat least one embodiment of the present invention. For example, digitalunit 20 may be installed in a base station (not shown) or in a digitalunit center (not shown) of a central office with a switching system.Digital unit 20 may be coupled to core system 40 through communicationnetwork 70. Such digital unit 20 may be coupled to a plurality of radiounits 30, 31, and 32 through an optical interface, but the presentinvention is not limited thereto. Digital unit 20 may be referred to asa baseband unit.

Digital unit 20 may transmit and receive signals to/from radio units 30,31, and 32. Digital unit 20 may be constituent elements for processsignals digitally. For example, digital unit 20 may encrypt and decryptthe signals. The signals may be a radio digital signal generated basedon with 3^(rd) generation partnership project (3GPP), worldwideinteroperability for microwave access (WiMAX), Wireless Broadband(WiBro), and/or long term evolution (LTE), but the present invention isnot limited thereto. Digital unit 20 may be connected to core system 40through network 70.

As described, digital unit 20 may be spatially separated from radiounits 30, 31, and 32 and installed at different locations such as acorresponding base station and a digital unit center (not shown).Digital unit 20 may be installed at a corresponding base station (notshown) and the base station may be connected to core system 40 throughcommunication network 70. The present invention, however, is not limitedthereto. Digital unit 20 may be installed at a digital unit center (notshown). The digital unit center may include a plurality of digital unitsin a cloud computing center system. The digital units may be centralizedin the digital unit center installed at a central office with aswitching system in a cloud computing center system. Accordingly,digital unit 20 may be a virtualized base station. Digital unit 20 maybe coupled to corresponding radio units 30, 31, and 32 through anoptical interface, but the present invention is not limited thereto.Digital unit 20 may be coupled to a plurality of radio units 30, 31, and32 and manage and control coupled radio units 30, 31, and 32, but thepresent invention is not limited thereto. Digital unit 20 may be coupledto one radio unit.

Radio units 30, 31, and 32 may be distributed and installed at variouslocations with corresponding antennas 60, 61, and 62. For example, radiounits 30, 31, and 32 may be installed with at least one antenna at eachfloor of an office building in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention. Such a structure may enable to form various types ofcells and reduce coverage holes. Radio units 30, 31, and 32 may becontrolled and managed by coupled digital unit 20. For example, each oneof radio units 30, 31, and 32 may receive signals from digital unit 20,process the received signals, and transmit the processed signal to userequipment 50. Furthermore, radio units 30, 31, and 32 may receivesignals from user equipment 50, process the received signals, andtransmit the processed signals to digital unit 20. In general, radiounits 30, 31, and 32 may be a set of elements for processing a radiofrequency signal. For example, radio units 30, 31, and 32 may convertdigital signals from digital unit 20 to a radio frequency signalaccording to a frequency band, amplify the radio frequency signal, andtransmit the radio frequency signal through antennas (not shown).Accordingly, radio units 30, 31, and 32 may include a converter and anamplifier.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention,digital unit 20 may control signals transmission in radio units 30, 31,and 32. For example, digital unit 20 may use multiple radio units tosimultaneously transmit a data signal to user equipment through a samechannel when the user equipment is located in overlapping service areasof the multiple radio units. In this case, digital unit 20 may allocatethe same radio resource to related radio units to transmit a data signalto user equipment. For example, the multiple radio units may transmitthe same data signal to the user equipment through the same channel inresponse to the control of digital unit 20.

Core system 40 may be coupled to digital unit 20 through network 70.Core system 40 may manage connection between digital unit 20 and anexternal network. Core system 40 may include a switching center (notshown). Such LTE network 10 may form various cell structures becauseradio units 30, 31, and 32 with antennas 60, 61, and 62 are spatiallyseparated from digital unit 20 and installed at different locations.Hereinafter, such cell structure in accordance with embodiments of thepresent invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows a cell structure in accordance with at least one embodimentof the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2, LTE network 10 may include a plurality of cells2100, 2200, and 2300. Each one of cells 2100, 2200, and 2300 may includeone macro radio unit and a plurality of cooperative radio units. Forexample, cell 2100 may include macro radio unit 111 and a plurality ofcooperative radio units 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, and 117. Furthermore,cell 2200 may include macro radio unit 121 and a plurality ofcooperative radio units 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, and 127. The cellstructure of cell 2100 will be representatively described, hereinafter.Cell 2200 and Cell 2300 may have the similar cell structure of cell2100.

As described, cell 2100 may include macro radio unit 111 and a pluralityof cooperative radio units 112, 113, 114, 115, 116, and 117. Macro radiounit 111 may manage overall communication processes in cell 2100. Macroradio unit 111 may be operated as a repeater mode and a typical sectormode. Macro radio unit 111 may always duplicate a signal and transmitthe duplicated signals in the repeater mode. Macro radio unit 111 maytransmit a signal to all user equipment located within cell 2100 withhigh transmission power.

Cooperative radio units 112 to 117 may transmit and receive signalsto/from one or more user equipment located within a comparatively shortdistance therefrom. Cooperative radio units 112 to 117 may transmitsignals with transmission power smaller than that of macro radio unit111. Cooperative radio units 112 to 117 may transmit signals whenrequired.

Such macro radio unit 111 and plurality of cooperative radio units 112to 117 may be controlled by corresponding digital unit 20. In accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention, digital unit 20may control and manage radio unit 111 and cooperative radio units 112 to117 in the same cell in order to efficiently use radio resources and tomaximize radio capacity.

As shown, one LTE cell may include at least one macro radio unit and aplurality of cooperative radio units. All radio units included in eachLTE cell may be controlled by digital unit 20. Such radio units 111 to117 may transmit a various types of radio signals. The radio signals mayinclude a control signal, a data signal, and a reference signal. Thecontrol signal may use to inform system information and data channelallocation information. The data signal may be used to transmit userdata. The reference signal may be used for channel estimation.

In the same cell, a plurality of cooperative radio units and a macroradio unit. For example, in cell 2200, cooperative radio units 122 to126 may transmit control signals and reference signals, which areidentical to those transmitted from macro radio unit 121. Radio units inone cell may transmit a control signal and a reference signal, differentfrom those transmitted from radio units in the other cells. For example,radio units 121 to 126 in cell 2200 may transmit control signals andreference signals, which are different from those transmitted from radiounits 111 to 116 in cell 2100.

As described, the LTE cell may include a plurality of cooperative radiounits as well as a macro radio unit. Accordingly, user equipment mayeffectively receive a control signal and a reference signal, which arecommonly transmitted from a plurality of radio units in the same cell.

FIG. 3 shows a heterogeneous network environment including a LTE networkand a UTRAN in accordance with at least one embodiment of the presentinvention.

Referring to FIG. 3, one LTE cell 100 may be overlaid on four UTRANcells 21 to 24. Since a size of a LTE cell is typically greater than asize of a UTRAN cell, one LTE cell may be overlaid on multiple UTRANcells. User equipment 700 may be redirected from LTE cell 100 to one ofUTRAN cells 21, 22, 23, and 24 when a certain condition meets. First,user equipment 700 may be redirected from LTE cell 100 to one of UTRAN(e.g., WCDMA) cell 21, 22, 23, and 24 when user equipment 700continuously has comparatively low signal quality for a predeterminedduration. User equipment 700 may have such condition when user equipment700 is located at a boundary area of LTE cells. Second, user equipment700 may be redirected from LTE cell 100 to at least one of UTRAN cells21, 22, 23, and 24 when user equipment 700 needs to perform a CSfallback procedure. That is, when user equipment 700 needs to process avoice call, user equipment 700 may be redirected from LTE cell 100 to atleast one of UTRAN cells 21, 22, 23, and 24.

When user equipment is redirected from LTE cell 100 to one of UTRANcells 21, 22, 23, and 24, macro base station 111 of LTE cell 100 mayperform a radio resource control (RRC) connection release procedure inorder to release connection to corresponding user equipment 700. SuchRRC connection release procedure may be initiated by transmitting a RRCconnection release message from macro base station 111 to user equipment700.

The RRC connection release message may include information on frequencyallocation (FA) in a UTRAN. Table 1 below shows the RRC connectionrelease message including the network redirection information. As shown,the RRC connection release message may include “RedirectedCarrier Info”in order to include the network redirection information.

TABLE 1 RRCConnectionRelease-r8-IEs ::= SEQUENCE { releaseCauseReleaseCause, redirectedCarrierInfo RedirectedCarrierInfo }

For example, “RedirectedCarrier Infor” may be set to indicate a nextservice network in Table 2 below.

TABLE 2 RedirectedCarrierInfo ::= CHOICE { utra-FDD ARFCN-ValueUTRA, }

For example, a variable “utra-FDD” may indicate FAs available for arelated network. When about 2.1 GHz and about 900 MHz are available asFAs, the variable “utra-FDD” may be set as one of about 2.1 GHz andabout 900 MHz. The variable “AFRCN-ValueUTRA” may include a valueindicating one of about 2.1 GHz and about 900 MHz. After a FA to be usedfor the next serving network is decided, the variable “AFRCN-ValueUTRA”is set accordingly. “AFRCN-ValueUTRA” may stand for “Absolute RadioFrequency Channel Number (ARFCN)-ValueUTRA.” Such variable“ARFCN-ValueUTRA” may be determined according to a frequency allocationtechnique for load distribution.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention,radio units may transmit system information of UTRAN cells overlappedwith LTE cell 100 to user equipment 700 together with the RRC connectionrelease message.

TABLE 3 CellInforListUTRA-FDD-r9 :: = SEQUENCE (SIZE(1.maxCellInforUTRA-r9)) OF CellInforUTRA-FDD-r9 Cell InfoUTRAN-FDD-r9:: = SEQUENCE { physCellID-r9 physCellIdUTRA-FDD, utra-BCCH-Container-r9 OCTET STRING }

As shown in Table 3, a related standard specification may define a RRCconnection release message to provide system information of total 16target cells. Typically, it may be not defined to selectively providesystem information of only cells spatially related to user equipment.For example, when user equipment 700 is located at LTE cell 100, userequipment may be interested about system information of only WCDMA cells21, 22, 23, and 24 as shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly, unnecessary systeminformation may be provided and cause delay in signal processing.

In accordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention,system information may be selectively provided to user equipment. Forexample, a location of user equipment may be considered to selectivelyprovide system information of related cells.

FIG. 4 shows a LTE cell overlaid on multiple UTRAN cells in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, LTE cell 500 may be overlaid on multiple UTRANcells 410, 420, 430, 440, 450, 460, 470, and 480. LTE cell 500 mayinclude a plurality of LTE remote radio heads (RRHs) 510, 520, 530, 540,550, and 560. For example, RRH may be a small sized base station eachincluding a radio unit. As shown, multiple LTE RRHs 510 to 560 may formone LTE cell 500.

Unlike LTE cell 500, each UTRAN cell includes one UTRAN RRH. As shown,UTRAN cell 410 may include UTRAN RRH 401, UTRAN cell 420 may includeUTRAN RRH 402, and UTRAN cell 430 may include UTRAN RRH 403. That is,each UTRAN RRH forms one UTRAN cell.

User equipment 700 may be located near to LTE RRH 510. In this case,when user equipment 700 continuously has comparatively low signalquality for a predetermined duration or when user equipment 700 needs toperform a CS fallback procedure, network redirection may be initiated.In this case, system information on UTRAN cells 410 and 420 may beprovided to user equipment 700 in order to enable user equipment 700 toselect one of UTRAN cells 410 and 420 to be redirected from a servingLTE cell in accordance with at least one embodiment of the presentinvention. That is, unnecessary system information such as systeminformation on UTRAN cells 440, 450, 460, and 470 are not provided touser equipment 700 in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention. Hereinafter, such an apparatus for selectivelyproviding system information in heterogeneous network environment willbe described with reference to FIG. 5.

FIG. 5 shows an apparatus for selectively providing system informationin heterogeneous network environment in accordance with at least oneembodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, apparatus 600 may determine a LTE cell base stationnear to user equipment 700 and selectively provide system information onUTRAN cells spatially associated with the determined LTE cell basestation in accordance with at least one embodiment of the presentinvention. Such apparatus 600 may be included in a digital unit, but thepresent invention is not limited thereto. Apparatus 600 may includeinput unit 610, location determination unit 620, mapping table 630,signal processor 640, and output unit 650.

Input unit 610 may receive uplink signals transmitted from userequipment to a LTE base station. For example, input unit 610 may receiveuplink signals transmitted from user equipment 700 through at least oneof LTE RRHs 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, and 560. For convenience and easeof understanding, input unit 610 is described as receiving uplink signalfrom LTE RRH 510 in FIG. 5, but the present invention is not limitedthereto. Input unit 610 may receive uplink signals from at least one ofLTE RRHs 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, and 560. Input unit 610 may providethe received uplink signals to location determination unit 620.

Location determination unit 620 may extract a pilot signal such as asounding reference signal (SRS) from the received uplink signal frominput unit 610 and detect a LTE RRH located near to user equipment 700based on the extracted SRS. Location determination unit 620 may transferinformation on the detected LTE RRH to signal processor 640.

Mapping table 630 may store information on UTRAN cells spatially closeto the detected LTE RRH. For example, each LTE RRH may be mapped toUTRAN cells spatially close thereto in mapping table 630. Particularly,UTRAN cell identifiers (IDs) may be mapped to that of each LTE RRH inmapping table 630. FIG. 6 shows such mapping table 630 in accordancewith at least one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG.6, LTE RRH 510 may be mapped to identifiers of UTRAN cells 410 and 420.Furthermore, LTE RRH 520 may be mapped to identifiers of UTRAN cells 420and 460. Based on such mapping relation between LTE RRHs and UTRANcells, UTRAN cells spatially closed to each LTE RRH may be determined.Such information on UTRRAN cells associated with a LTE cell may be inputinto mapping table 630 or modified by an associated operator or systemmanager, but the present invention is not limited thereto.

Signal processor 640 may receive information on the detected LTE RRHwhich is located near to user equipment 700 from location determinationunit 620. Based on the information, signal processor 640 may extractUTRAN cell information mapped to the detected LTE RRH from mapping table630. Signal processor 640 may obtain system information of the extractedUTRAN cell information and transmit the obtained system information touser equipment 700 through output unit 650.

Accordingly, user equipment 700 may receive information on UTRAN cellsonly adjacent to the LTE RRH where user equipment 700 is located. Forexample, in case of FIG. 4, user equipment 700 may be provided withsystem information of UTRAN cells 410 and 420. Accordingly, unnecessarysystem information may be not provided to user equipment 700. Withoutunnecessary system information, radio resources are not wasted whenproviding such unnecessary system information and delay caused inprocessing such unnecessary system information may be reduced inaccordance with at least one embodiment of the present invention.

As described above, multiple UTRAN cells may be overlaid on one LTE cellin a heterogeneous network environment. When user equipment needs toperform a CS fallback procedure or when user equipment has comparativelylow signal quality due to a location thereof, a network redirectionprocedure may be initiated from a serving LTE cell to one of UTRAN cellsadjacent the serving LTE cell. In order to select one of the UTRAN cellsadjacent to the serving LTE cell, system information of the UTRAN cellsmay be provided. In accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention, system information of UTRAN cells in a comparativelyclose distance from user equipment may be provided. Unnecessary systeminformation may not be provided. Such a method of providing systeminformation of UTRAN cells will be described with reference to FIG. 7.For convenience and ease of understanding, it will be described asproviding system information when a network redirection procedure isperformed from a LTE network to a UTRAN. The present invention, however,is not limited thereto. Embodiments of the present invention may beapplied to when a network redirection procedure is performed from aUTRAN to a LTE network. In this case, system information of LTE cellsnear to a serving UTRAN cell may be provided.

FIG. 7 shows selectively providing system information in a heterogeneousnetwork environment in accordance with at least one embodiment of thepresent invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, a network redirection procedure may be initiated atstep S7010. A network redirection procedure from a LTE network to aUTRAN may be initiated when user equipment 700 in a heterogeneousnetwork environment needs to perform a CS callback procedure or whensuch user equipment 700 continuously has comparatively low signalquality for a predetermined duration because of location thereof. Forexample, user equipment 700 may be located near to LTE RRH 510 as shownin FIG. 4. When user equipment 700 needs to perform a CS fallbackprocedure or when user equipment 700 continuously has bad signal qualityfor a predetermined duration, network redirection may be initiated, forexample, from LTE RHH 510 to one of UTRAN cells 410 and 420.Furthermore, mapping table 630 may store information on identifiers ofUTRAN cells 410 and 420 mapped to LTE RRH 510.

At step S7020, a base station located near to user equipment may bedetermined. For example, upon the initiation of the network redirectionprocedure, system information providing apparatus 500 may determine aLTE RRH near to user equipment 700. In order to determine the LTE RRHnear to user equipment 700, system information providing apparatus 600may use a pilot signal such as a sounding reference signal (SRS).Particularly, input unit 610 of system information providing apparatus600 may receive uplink signals from LTE cell base stations such as LTERRHs 510, 520, 530, 540, 550, and 560. Location determination unit 620of system information providing apparatus 600 may extract a SRS from thereceived uplink signals and determine a LTE RRH located near to userequipment 700 based on the extracted SRS. In case of user equipment 700in FIG. 4, location determination unit 620 may determine that LTE RRH510 is located near to user equipment 700 based on the SRS extractedfrom the uplink signal of LTE RRH 510.

At step S7030, at least one cell of a target network may be determinedbased on the determined RRH of the serving network. For example, systeminformation providing apparatus 600 may determine UTRAN cells, which arespatially associated with the determined LTE base station. In order todetermine the at least one cell of a target network, system informationproviding apparatus 600 may use mapping table 630 storing information onUTRAN cell mapped to each LTE base station. In case of FIG. 4, mappingtable 630 may store information on identifiers of UTRAN cells 410 and420, mapped to LTE RRH 510. Signal processor 640 of system informationproviding apparatus 600 may receive the information on determined LTERRH 510 from location determination unit 620 and extract information onidentifiers of UTRAN cell 410 and 420 mapping table 630.

At step S7040, system information of the determined base stations of thetarget network may be obtained. For example, signal processor 640 mayobtain system information of associated UTRAN cells 410 and 420 based onthe extracted UTRAN cell identifiers from mapping table 630.

At step S7050, the obtained system information of the UTRAN cells may beprovided to user equipment. For example, output unit 650 of systeminformation providing apparatus 600 may receive the obtained systeminformation of the UTRAN cells 410 and 420 from signal processor 640 andtransmit the obtained system information to user equipment 700. In orderto provide the obtained system information of the UTRAN cells, a RRCconnection release message may be used.

At step S7060, user equipment may select one of the base stations of thetarget network to be redirected based on the provided systeminformation. As described above, system information providing apparatus600 may provide system information of UTRAN cells 410 and 420, which areonly spatially adjacent to LTE RRH 510 where user equipment 700 islocated. That is, unnecessary system information is not provided to userequipment 700. Accordingly, radio resources may be prevented fromwasting and signal processing delay may be reduced in user equipment700.

Reference herein to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of theinvention. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments necessarilymutually exclusive of other embodiments. The same applies to the term“implementation.”

As used in this application, the word “exemplary” is used herein to meanserving as an example, instance, or illustration. Any aspect or designdescribed herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed aspreferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs. Rather, use ofthe word exemplary is intended to present concepts in a concretefashion.

Additionally, the term “or” is intended to mean an inclusive “or” ratherthan an exclusive “or”. That is, unless specified otherwise, or clearfrom context, “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the naturalinclusive permutations. That is, if X employs A; X employs B; or Xemploys both A and B, then “X employs A or B” is satisfied under any ofthe foregoing instances. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as usedin this application and the appended claims should generally beconstrued to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear fromcontext to be directed to a singular form.

Moreover, the terms “system,” “component,” “module,” “interface,”,“model” or the like are generally intended to refer to acomputer-related entity, either hardware, a combination of hardware andsoftware, software, or software in execution. For example, a componentmay be, but is not limited to being, a process running on a processor, aprocessor, an object, an executable, a thread of execution, a program,and/or a computer. By way of illustration, both an application runningon a controller and the controller can be a component. One or morecomponents may reside within a process and/or thread of execution and acomponent may be localized on one computer and/or distributed betweentwo or more computers.

The present invention can be embodied in the form of methods andapparatuses for practicing those methods. The present invention can alsobe embodied in the form of program code embodied in tangible media, suchas magnetic recording media, optical recording media, solid statememory, floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, or any othermachine-readable storage medium, wherein, when the program code isloaded into and executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machinebecomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. The present inventioncan also be embodied in the form of program code, for example, whetherstored in a storage medium, loaded into and/or executed by a machine, ortransmitted over some transmission medium or carrier, such as overelectrical wiring or cabling, through fiber optics, or viaelectromagnetic radiation, wherein, when the program code is loaded intoand executed by a machine, such as a computer, the machine becomes anapparatus for practicing the invention. When implemented on ageneral-purpose processor, the program code segments combine with theprocessor to provide a unique device that operates analogously tospecific logic circuits. The present invention can also be embodied inthe form of a bitstream or other sequence of signal values electricallyor optically transmitted through a medium, stored magnetic-fieldvariations in a magnetic recording medium, etc., generated using amethod and/or an apparatus of the present invention.

It should be understood that the steps of the exemplary methods setforth herein are not necessarily required to be performed in the orderdescribed, and the order of the steps of such methods should beunderstood to be merely exemplary. Likewise, additional steps may beincluded in such methods, and certain steps may be omitted or combined,in methods consistent with various embodiments of the present invention.

As used herein in reference to an element and a standard, the term“compatible” means that the element communicates with other elements ina manner wholly or partially specified by the standard, and would berecognized by other elements as sufficiently capable of communicatingwith the other elements in the manner specified by the standard. Thecompatible element does not need to operate internally in a mannerspecified by the standard.

No claim element herein is to be construed under the provisions of 35U.S.C. §112, sixth paragraph, unless the element is expressly recitedusing the phrase “means for” or “step for.”

Although embodiments of the present invention have been describedherein, it should be understood that the foregoing embodiments andadvantages are merely examples and are not to be construed as limitingthe present invention or the scope of the claims. Numerous othermodifications and embodiments can be devised by those skilled in the artthat will fall within the spirit and scope of the principles of thisdisclosure, and the present teaching can also be readily applied toother types of apparatuses. More particularly, various variations andmodifications are possible in the component parts and/or arrangements ofthe subject combination arrangement within the scope of the disclosure,the drawings and the appended claims. In addition to variations andmodifications in the component parts and/or arrangements, alternativeuses will also be apparent to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for selectively providing systeminformation in a heterogeneous network environment including a firstnetwork overlaid on a second network, the apparatus comprising: alocation determination unit configured to receive an uplink signaltransmitted from user equipment and to determine a first network basestation in the first network, which is located in a comparatively closedistance to the user equipment; a mapping table configured to storeinformation on at least one second network cell in a second network,which is overlaid on a first network cell of the determined firstnetwork base station, and is spatially in a comparatively close distanceto the determined first network base station in the first network amongentire second network cells overlaid on the first network cell of thedetermined first network base station; and a signal processor configuredto determine, among the entire second network cells overlaid on thefirst network cell of the determined first network base station, atleast one second network cell spatially close to the determined firstnetwork base station based on the mapping table, to obtain systeminformation of the determined at least one second network cell, and totransmit the obtained system information to the user equipment insteadof system information on the entire second network cells overlaid on thefirst network cell of the determined first network base station.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein: a first network cell of the first networkis overlaid on multiple second network cells of the second network inthe heterogeneous network environment; and one first network cellincludes multiple first network radio units and one second network cellincludes one second network radio unit.
 3. The apparatus of claim 2,wherein the radio unit is a remote radio head.
 4. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the first network is a long term evolution (LTE) network andthe second network is a universal mobile telecommunications system radioaccess network (UTRAN).
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:an input unit configured to receive the uplink signals transmitted fromthe user equipment and to provide the received uplink signals to thelocation determination unit.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thelocation determination unit is configured to: extract one or moresounding reference signals from the received uplink signals; anddetermine the first network base station located near to the userequipment based on each extracted sounding reference signal.
 7. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein: the mapping table is configured to storeidentifications of the at least one second network cell spatially closeto the determined first network base station; and the identifications ofthe at least one second network cell are mapped to a corresponding firstnetwork base station spatially close to the at least one second networkcell.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the signal processor isconfigured to transmit the obtained system information through a radioresource control (RRC) connection release message.
 9. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the apparatus is included in a digital unit in thefirst network.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the locationdetermination unit is configured to determine the first network basestation spatially close to the user equipment when the user equipment isredirected from the first network to the second network.
 11. A methodfor selectively providing system information in a heterogeneous networkenvironment including a first network overlaid on a second network, themethod comprising: receiving an uplink signal transmitted from userequipment; determining a first network base station in the first networklocated in a comparatively close distance to the user equipment; anddetermining, among entire second network cells overlaid on a firstnetwork cell of the determined first network base station, at least onesecond network cell spatially close to the determined first network basestation based on a mapping table; obtaining system information of thedetermined at least one second network cell; and providing the obtainedsystem information to the user equipment.
 12. The method of claim 11,comprising storing, by the mapping table, information on at least onesecond network cell in a second network, which is overlaid on the firstnetwork cell of the determined first network base station and spatiallyin a comparatively close distance to the determined first network basestation among entire second network cells overlaid on the first networkcell of the determined first network base station in the first network.13. The method of claim 11, wherein: a first network cell of the firstnetwork is overlaid on multiple second network cells of the secondnetwork in the heterogeneous network environment; and one first networkcell includes multiple first network radio units and one second networkcell includes one second network radio unit.
 14. The method of claim 11,wherein the first network is a long term evolution (LTE) network and thesecond network is a universal mobile telecommunications system radioaccess network (UTRAN).
 15. The method of claim 11, wherein thedetermining a first network base station includes: extracting one ormore sounding reference signals from the received uplink signals; anddetermining the first network base station located near to the userequipment based on each extracted sounding reference signal.
 16. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the providing the obtained systeminformation includes: including the obtained system information in aradio resource control (RRC) connection release message; andtransmitting the RRC connection release message to the user equipment.17. The method of claim 11, further comprising, prior to the determininga first network base station: initiating a network redirection procedurethat redirects the user equipment from the first network to the secondnetwork.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the network redirectionprocedure is initiated for at least one of when the user equipmentcontinuously has a comparatively low signal quality for a predeterminedduration and when the user equipment performs a circuit switched (CS)fallback procedure.
 19. An apparatus for selectively providing systeminformation of cells in a universal mobile telecommunication systemradio access network (UTRAN) in a heterogeneous network environmentincluding a long term evolution (LTE) network overlaid on the UTRAN, theapparatus comprising: a location determination unit configured toreceive an uplink signal transmitted from user equipment and todetermine a LTE base station located in a comparatively close distanceto the user equipment; a mapping table configured to store informationon at least one UTRAN cell which is overlaid on a LTE cell of thedetermined LTE base station and is spatially in a comparatively closedistance to the determined LTE base station overlaid on UTRAN cellsamong entire second network cells overlaid on the LTE cell of thedetermined LTE base station; and a signal processor configured todetermine, among the entire UTRAN cells overlaid on the LTE cell of thedetermined LTE base station, at least one UTRAN cell spatially close tothe determined LTE base station based on the mapping table, to obtainsystem information of the determined at least one UTRAN cell, and totransmit the obtained system information to the user equipment insteadof transmitting system information on the entire UTRAN cells overlaid onthe LTE cell of the determined LTE network base station.
 20. Theapparatus of claim 19, wherein: the location determination unit isconfigured to extract sounding reference signal from the received uplinksignals and to determine the LTE base station located near to the userequipment based on the extracted sounding reference signals; and thesignal processor is configured to transmit the obtained systeminformation through a radio resource control (RRC) connection releasemessage.